Sounds of America’s past and present…Paul Kelly delivers vocals akin to an early Bob Dylan with bluesy Delaney and Bonnie inspired sounds on this upbeat album. Vika Bull adds voice to a Tom Waits-ish vaudevillian “My Man’s Got A Cold” and the mid tempo rocker “Don’t Explain.” Some tribal percussion by Peter Luscombe gives a South African feel to Rock Out On Sea” and the team gets bluesy on “Leah: The Sequal” and rootsy on ”Letter in the Rain.” You can see the Nashville Skyline with Bill McDonald/b, Lucky Oceans’steel, Cameron Bruce/p and Dan Kelly/g on “Petrichor” and the title track, while the leader delivers a dramatic read of “Rising Mood.” Music from shades of Big Pink.
Railroad Earth consists of Todd Sheaffer/g-voc, Tim Carbone/vi-acc-g-voc, John Skehan/mad-bou/p/voc, Andy Gosseling/g-ban-dob, Carey Harmon/dr-voc and Andre Altman/b/voc for this six song ep of originals. They mix sounds ranging from jazz to bluegrass to traditional Irish here, with a semi western swing and Dylanesquevocals with a Dan Hicks attitude on “Blazin’ A Trail,” while the drummer lays out a train track groove on the dreamy “Only By the Light.” Nights in Dublin are delivered with guitar and violin on”Adding My Voice” with a foreboding tale on “Ravens Child.” Edgy violin and driving drums make for an exciting instrumental “The Berkeley Fl ash” while twangy strings get you feeling homey on ”Captain Nowhere.” Eclectic sounds at the pub.